Real Music, Real Artists, Real Opinions

Menu

Category Archives: Video

New album from from soul/jazz artist and Latebirds singer, respectively, released earlier in 2018 on the Schoolkids Records label (also a Raleigh/Chapel Hill store and, not incidentally, Blurt’s sister business).

By Blurt Staff

Tuomo & Markus have shared the live video for their cover of John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy,” paying tribute to the music icon who passed 38 years ago. Recorded in the band’s hometown of Helsinki, Finland, they were joined by acclaimed Finnish jazz trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and Wilco’s Glenn Kotche on drums. You can see the video below:

Tuomo & Markus is the new musical project from acclaimed Finnish soul/jazz artist Tuomo Prättälä and singer/songwriter Markus Nordenstreng of The Latebirds; the duo released their debut album Dead Circles via Schoolkids Records in September of this year. Dead Circles was recorded in Tucson, AZ after a few spontaneous sessions at Wavelab Studios which featured John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco; John Convertino, Joey Burns and Jakob Valenzuela of Calexico; and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks.

On October 26th Jah Wobble and his Invaders of the Heart took the stage at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere club and proceeded to give one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. The crowd was made up of mainly music industry insiders and a smattering of musicians from both the US and Japan. Jah Wobble who was the bassist for PIL was not only hilarious with his banter but fronted a smoking hot group of musicians that just blew me away.

The drummer was pure military precision, and extremely versatile as well. The guitarist could play anything and make it sound great. The keyboardist was a virtuoso on the instrument and perfectly punctuated certain moments in the songs. Jah showed what an amazing player he is as well veering from dub, to the world music transcendental meditations to a bit of comedy between numbers. Jah even managed to throw some PIL songs into the mix.

The show ended with Bill Laswell joining the Invaders of the heart for two songs of throb-heavy psychedelic jazzified mind-bending music. The sound in the club was amazing. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I could hear every instrument tunneling through to me. The mix was incredible because as the sounds hit you they morphed into this groovy organic mass that made you wanna live forever in the moment.

Through the kindness of Jah’s people I was able to get some incredible footage, below, to share with Blurt readers. Jah is currently recording his new album with Bill Laswell in New Jersey. If you get a chance to see Señor Wobble in concert it is an unforgettable experience.

Ed. note: Our resident Thee Hypnotics fan on the ground in Paris, Kim “Cold Blooded Love” Phoung, recently posted an awesome photo gallery documenting the UK legends’ September 19 performance at Petit Bain in Paris, and now we have the astute correspondent’s post-gig video interview with the group. Check it out below, and special thanks to longtime BLURT staffer Jonathan “Justice in Freedom” Levitt for being our official T.H. liaison and getting this rolling. (Go HERE to read a vintage interview with the band, and HERE for an interview and look at one of the band’s classic albums.)

Young Music City indie rock quartet submits dreamy standout from recent debut album.

By John B. Moore

The Nashville-based foursome Fine Lines technically may still be the new kids in town – together for under two years – but damn, have they managed to zero on an impressive sound during that short period of time. Made up of refugees from the Alabama and Indiana music scenes, the band’s members came together in Music City, USA and quickly got to work on their debut record, Contact.

After listening to this stellar album, we are stoked to premiere a video for their single “Morning Sun.”

“”Morning Sun” is a song I wrote one snowy weekend while visiting my hometown of Indianapolis,” says singer/guitarist Chris Probasco. “It’s about leaving a place that was once familiar and returning to feel like a stranger. It’s about finding companionship in that loneliness.

The video was shot live in the East Nashville home studio of Don Bates as a part of his “Around the House” series. Don, who was also the engineer on our album, Contact, set the band up in his living-room-turned-studio and operated a single camera, capturing the band in a completely unique setting.”

Along with Probasco, Fine Lines also includes bassist Dustyn Roth, singer/songwriter and guitarist B.L. Reed, and drummer James Thompson.

The band has two upcoming shows, November 9th at Ghost Train Brewing Co. in Birmingham, AL and December 16th at Reggie’s in Chicago. Tour dates and more: https://finelinesband.com/home

Title track from the indie wunderkind’s album of the same name—guaranteed to make you feel great and NOT anxious, yo. (Go HERE to read Newski’s awesome 2016 essay for Blurt, “The 7 Best Countries & 3 to Avoid for Traveling Musicians.”)

By John B. Moore

Brett Newski, along with being wildly talented, Willie Nelson-level prolific and a favorite here at Blurt Magazine, is also the epitome of DIY (we’re talking 1980’s hardcore punk rockers who booked their own shows, handmade their merch and cut, pasted, folded and packed every album they every made-type of DIY). The kid is making his bones, regularly trekking across the globe to play shows in some dude’s living room or getting snagged by someone like the Violent Femmes or The new Pornographers to open their shows. So when he asked us if we’d be cool hosting the video for the title track off his new album, Life Upside Down, we said “Fuck that! We’re gonna interview you as well.”

So as he packed for a long tour that will take him across Europe and back to the U.S. for a slew of shows, he sighed (I’m assuming – this was all handled via e-mail) and said “sure thing. What do you want to know?” (Again, assuming here. It’s not like we’re Bob Woodward with endless hours of tapes here).

It seems like your last EP, The Stars Are As Good as A Nightlight, just came out. Are you just having a wildly prolific period at the momentI hit burnout two years ago after playing some 600 shows in three years. After a break and finding a girl who really stabilized my brain, I’m ready to get after it again. I had to get back to the reason I started doing this in the first place, catharsis and fun.

Sonically “Life Upside Down” is a very ’90s sounding record channeling a few of my first influences (early Weezer, early Green Day, Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, early BNL, old school BECK)…and more recent influences (Nada Surf, Frank Turner, New Pornographers, Delta Spirit, BEN Kweller, Manchester Orchestra)

You have not been shy in the past of talking about your anxieties (thank you for that, by the way). Do any of the songs on this new record address those feelings?

There are a few “anti-anxiety songs” on every record. Now as the number of songs in the world moves toward infinity, I want the songs on “Life Upside Down” to have utilitarian value as well. If they are disposable, I am not doing my job.

You’ve been kicked out of Wal-Mart for playing and recording and successfully played a Dollar Store, if I remember correctly. Any other retail sites on your bucket list?

Yes, sir. Kmart, Best Buy, Aldi, IKEA, McDonald’s and the neighborhood Greek restaurant. We get kicked out of almost every pop up show we do. We call this series DORK ROCK BUM RUSH. Most people enjoy it, but the staff typically wants us dead.

You seem to be constantly be on the road. How much time off have you taken the past few years?
I don’t take off-time other than a lazy Sunday here and there. Work is a medicine that combats my worries and keeps them in check. However it’s important to not work too much, because you generally hit a point of diminishing returns after 8-10 hours of work per day. Once you do that, you’re hurting yourself professionally and also in your brain and your relationships.

You’re about to tour Europe. What’s next for you?Johnny B! Coming to visit you in Philly, November 15! We have a pretty hectic ‘n long Euro and US tour on the books. I’m working with my friend Paul Langton in America. He’s a brilliant radio promoter from Boston and we have a very similar taste pallette in music.

Plans for any additional new music?

I’m working on my first book actually!

One of my dream albums is to post up in Cuba for a month and make a lo-fi album with only a cell phone. Would that be neat? Also I have been working with my drummer/collaborator SPATOLA on more albums. He is amazing and he looks just like Dave Grohl.

Killer track by the power pop auteur plucked from upcoming album, due out Sept. 28. We think they got it…

By John B. Moore

As tough a facade as we occasionally put up here at BLURT, even we can’t resist a Sweet, perfectly-crafted power pop song. So, when Paul Collins—musician, producer, and author—asked us if we wanted to premiere “Go,” from his newest album, Out of My Head, we said “hell, yes!” Check it out:

“’Go” is the second video we have shot for the album and, like the record, it’s straight from the hip,” said Collins, who of course played in pioneering outfits The Nerves and The Beat before going solo. “Our good buddy, Derek Davidson, rented a high-end video camera and we knocked it out in three hours. We wanted something live and fresh, kinda like Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ but without all the production. I think we got it!”Paul Collins’ Out of My Head will be available on limited edition vinyl, CD, digital, and streaming formats September 28th, via Alive Naturalsound Records.

And for wax fans, here’s a link to order the beautiful, limited starburst vinyl. It’s limited to just 200 copies, so don’t procrastinate…

“No Want” from the garage monsters’ new album “Wasteland,” due this month from Hound Dawg Records. Think: every band that aspired to be on Nuggets but was deemed “too insane.”

By Uncle Blurt

Subject header says it all: this Japanese garage outfit returns for a 20th anniversary celebration, after a considerable absence from the record store bins, on September 28 via the estimable Hound Dawg! label, straight outta Germany. Wasteland is the title, and you will need no convincing that this album (on both black and limited edition gold vinyl) is worth lining up for at your local independent record dealer’s doors. Just check out the INSANE video for key track “No Want.” It’ll have you stage diving from the relative safety of your living room…

It wasn’t too long ago when we posted about incredible NYC psych/jazz outfit Dadalon, including some sharp live studio footage. Now the band has a striking new video for the song “D Major” that appears on their eponymous debut.

Stompin’ tune taken from latest album Children of Paradise. (Photo by Cristina Arrigoni)

By Fred Mills

“I wanted it to feel like Judgment Day.”

That’s veteran rocker Willie Nile, on his song “Earth Blues,” an apocalyptic-lined powerhouse of a number even by Nile’s own blazing standards. And it’s no surprise, either, as his new Children of Paradise album (released July 27 on his own River House label) is a relentless, topical look at the turbulent darkness that currently engulfs us, what with tracks like “Getting’ Ugly Out There,” “Seeds of a Revolution,” and “All Dressed Up and No Place to Go.”

We’re pretty stoked to be able to premiere the video for “Earth Blues.” It was directed by Ehud Lazin, and Nile notes that he “filmed a show in June in Asbury Park, NJ, and used footage from that along with shots of the environmental chaos going on around the world. Lazin did a great job directing it. It’s got all the things I like about rock ‘n’ roll. It’s heartfelt, pissed off, in love, on fire, and out of its mind all at the same time.” Check it out:

Of the song, Nile says, “I wanted to give the earth a voice with all the chaos that’s going on with it. The ocean level’s rising, the weather’s changing for the worse and the climate for living a decent life here is going to hell. There’s a mass of plastic garbage the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean for cryin’ out loud! A hundred years from now, the people responsible for letting it fall into ruin will be long gone and won’t give a damn and our descendants will be left to suffer and deal with the darkness and difficulties to come. They do it all for the money and nothing else, and our grandchildren and great grandchildren are going to have to pay for it. It’s not right and it’s not ok. That’s why I wrote ‘Earth Blues.’ I wanted to write a rocker with an anthemic chorus and I’m thrilled with how it came out. The band was on fire the day we cut it. I wanted it to feel like Judgment Day.”

Check out the remarkable ‘shroom-fueled video for a key track from the album, which arrives Sept. 21. Tour dates at the bottom.

By Fred Mills

They’re called the Artisanals, they hail from Charleston, SC (where the once-sleepy tourist town now boasts a thriving indie rock music scene), and no less an artist than Band of Horses’ frontman Ben Bridwell is a major fan and supporter. The group features Johnny Delaware, late of SUSTO, but more important is the fact that their long-playing eponymous debut is stuffed with some of the most memorable rock ‘n’ roll you’ll hear all year, with sonic and songwriting touchstones ranging from Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen to Dawes and the aforementioned Band of Horses.

Check out the Zach Hellmuth-directed video for album track “Drag,” below, for an advance taste, and mark your calendars for Sept. 21, when the album arrives via AWAL. You can also preorder it at the band’s PledgeMusic campaign.

THE BLURT JAZZ DESK

ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAZZ FANS!
Join Bill “Musoscribe” Kopp for a look at the jazz world – past, present, and yet-to-come, via interviews, essays, and reviews of new releases and archival titles.GO HEREfor full details, along with direct links to this exclusive content. Most recently: #11, seven recent releases from MPS, Modern Harmonic, Varese Sarabande, and North Texas Jazz.

MUSIC FOR THE EARS / MOVIES FOR THE EYES

MOVIE THOUGHTSJoin our man in the balcony, Daniel Matti, who knows of what he views.Go HEREto read the latest reviews and updates. Most recently: Top 10 Films of 2017, including The Disaster Artist, Good Time, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.